Program Reviews

My experience at the turtles project was amazing. I had a lot of fun and met fantastic people from all over the world. The village is totally safe and local people are really kind.
The patrols at night were fine, you have to walk for four hours on the beach with guides, and if you're on a lucky night you'll get to see turtles coming slowly from the ocean, crossing the beach and laying eggs just in front of you. It's something you want to live in your life, and something you want to protect.

I spent an interesting and sometimes challenging week volunteering with my boyfriend in this programme in August 2017.

The good parts:

- The local guides were excellent, they took us on patrol at night to search for nesting turtles. The aim of these patrol's was to stop Poachers from killing turtles and stealing their eggs. We undertook several patrols and saw two beautiful green turtles laying eggs.

-the Project is mostly run by volunteers, who were very passionate and hands on. We've met lovely people and made some new friends.

The bad parts:

-The local employees of the programme were terrible and disengaged from day one. They didn't bother showing up at the bus station to collect us as arranged and failed to inform us about it. We've had to go round in circles phoning out of date contacts to finally get somewhere. When we arrived in at the project they briefly showed us to our homestay and for the rest of the week we never saw them again.

-The people of our homestay were lovely and very welcoming. We were prepared for humble living conditions, however the homestay lacked basic hygiene and was infested by bugs and roaches.

At the moment I would not recommend this particular organisation, as it feels that they are completely detached from the project. The volunteers are left to organise their own schedules and activities throughout the week. It wouldn't take much to improve the experience, but I feel an internal restructure of the organisation is needed.

The Royal School is a primary school in Arush, in a poor neighborhood.
I personaly taught English, Math, Music and dances, in several grades (2 to 7th)
I had a very good relations with all the school personel and the kids.
The satisfaction of helping the school is very good.
The children need a lot of love, help and support and give you their love back...
The school needs more volunteers and also financial support in order to improve its conditions.

I spent two weeks ( I know, definitely too short) in a day care center in Phnom Penh in Cambodia thanks to Iko Poran association. And it was such a wonderful experience !
I took care of a class of 7 children (5-6years Old) from 9:00a.m to 4 p.m, from Monday to Friday. Sometimes I picked them up in their shanty towns at 8 a.m with the staff. It was very hard and sad to see where they live and in such poor conditions, but it was part of the experience and I simply loved their face, their excitation when the association bus ( that we used to pick them up at Home) arrived in front of their living place ( we cant call it "a house").
When they arrive at the day Care center around 9 a.m, they sing and pray with a Kmer teacher. This was so cute to see them so happy to be there and to take pleasure to sing and pray ( even if they lost sometimes their concentration rapidly when they saw the volunteers next to them and they guessed that they will play games after ahah).
After that, it was "shower time" for all children. So we had to make them take a shower, put soap on their body, shampoo on their haïr, and dress them up with the association "uniform" ( too cute).
Then, I taught them english until lunch time (around 11 à.m). As school facilities, I had a board, some books, pens, and thats it. I regretted not to have brought with me school support for the class when I see how much they were happy to learn. Some days, when they were very excited, I had time to do some games ( often drawings) after the lesson and before the lunch time. When they ate, I helped to clean the dishes, and other little tasks to help the staff. From noon to 2p.m, it was rest time for children, so we could take our lunch break and even also take a nap ahah. When they woke up, we make them take a new shower, before starting the afternoon games. I was completely free to choose wich games I wanted to do with them. They loved dancing (I learned them how to dance Macarena, it was so funny), but they were satisfied whatever the game was. Sometimes I made them watch some Disney videos on my phone (like Frozen, or Mickey) and they became focused and quiet during a short moment which allowed me to recover from the dancing time !

Sometimes, and this was amazing, they were asking from more homework during the afternoon. They were so proud to have their own little notebook to make their exercices (write letters, numbers, some words) ! They contented themselves with almost nothing, and it was enough to make them glad.
At the end of the day (4 p.m) the bus dropped them at Home.
Finally, the days were extremely short, and I didnt see how fastly the time went by.
This experience was incredible for so many reasons !
First, to take care of children who really need attention, kindness, affection. They were so happy to see that we really paid attention to them, we contragulated them.
Secondly, I loved teaching them English, and see how much they tried to improve and make you proud of them. I will particularly remember one child,because he was extremely smart, fast, and he loved learning.
Then, the staff team was wonderful, always asking you if everything was fine, and they were awsome with the kids.
Finally, its the kind of experience wich makes you feel really useful, and wich makes you aware how much they need support, even if its just to play with them and make them enjoy life.
I definitely Want to Come back next year!
I completely recommend the program, but I advice you to spend at list one month there, two weeks for me was definitely too short.

Thanks to the association, wich organized perfectly the program, and wich was always present when I needed.

Another advice : bring with you games, Books, figurines, balloons ( all ideas you have) as much as possible. I brought some Playmobils one day, one by each, and they were so excited !

In June of 2017, I was given the opportunity to teach English as a volunteer in an informal community outside of Rio de Janeiro. Unfamiliar with Portuguese and inexperienced in teaching, I was very nervous to enter this new environment in an attempt to make a difference in the students' lives. I was unsure if I could make any difference at all, given I did not speak Portuguese and had never taught English as a second language to others. However, my initial unsettledness proved to be wrong and misplaced. I left the program with my desire to teach reaffirmed, some new friends, and a very fulfilling experience. Despite the language barrier between me and the staff at the placement and some of the students, I was proud of being able to reach them and teach English, be it simply introducing themselves or having a complex political discussion. Most importantly, however, I forged relationships with some of my students who I know I will never forget and who I promised I will visit on my next trip to Brazil. I strongly recommend the trip to anyone who hopes to teach at some point in their lives and to anyone who wants to work with people in a meaningful way.

I was in Mombassa for around 4 months and I was nineteen years old. I didn't know what to study yet or what to do with my life I had just finished high school. Just being there with the people was a life changing experience, I had the best time in Cannan Orphanage, the kids are the most beautiful kids I´ve ever seen, teaching them and playing with them was so fulfilling. Also the country is beautiful, in the weekends I would book tours and excursions around mombassa and see everything Kenya has to offer. At the end I left like a different person, it was by far the best 4 months of my life. Because of that experience i decided to go into Clinical Nutrition in university and do more volunteering like this in the future.

I was very happy with my time on the Sports Development Programme. My expectations of Rio were surpassed and I had an amazing time seeing the city, meeting people and doing my volunteer work. The coordinator, Felipe, was very helpful and it was a pleasure to stay with him and his family. The local people who helped with the programmes were really kind, patient and fun to work with.

I would advise future participants to try and learn as much Portuguese as possible before coming to Rio to give you a head start on being able to communicate with the locals. Don't assume that they may speak some English, because many of the locals don't and it will go a long way to show you have made the effort to learn their language. However, you will have lessons from a great teacher who is really patient and friendly. She will help you a lot with whatever level of Portuguese you are currently at and help you improve quickly. I learned a lot from her and really grateful for her time.

The best time to go to Rio to do volunteer work is during carnival. You will have to pay a little bit more, but it is defiantly worth it! The Blocos, parade and weather is amazing! You will have a great time partying and seeing the parade, while helping out with whatever project you choose to do.

My favourite memories are the smiles on people's faces when I bought football equipment and stationary with money raised by friends and work colleagues. I was able to raise £530 in two weeks and would highly recommend raising some money through a donation website, so you can go the extra mile with supporting the locals.

After retuning to London, I now take regular Portuguese classes and use online website to learn as much as possible for when I return - you will want to return... believe me!!!

I would HIGHLY recommend this volunteer experience. I did lots of research going into this trying to find the most affordable program, and Iko Poran was definitely the most affordable. I was doing the same volunteer work as volunteers from all over the world, but I was paying much less money to do so. I had a fantastic time in Costa Rica with the turtles and I met many people and created memories I will never forget. I definitely recommend Iko Poran and the Sea Turtle experience in Costa Rica and I cannot wait until I volunteer with them again. Pura Vida!

I spent 3 weeks in Rio volunteering for project Morrinho with Iko Poran last january. It was an amazing experience. The project I worked in was very interesting, and I got to know really nice locals and the way they lived in the favela (that has an amazing view of Rio by the way!). All the volunteers stayed at Felipe’s beautiful house, which was so comfortable and we had a beautiful terrace to get together, have dinner or a few drinks in. Rio de Janeiro is such a vibrant, beautiful and fun city to visit and it’s even better to get to know it with amazing people like the friends I made in the volunteer house. The 3 weeks went by too fast, I wish I could have stayed more time. If you have the time and can afford it, I recommend staying at least 5-6 weeks. I made really good friends there that I really miss and I hope I can go back soon to visit them! I’m definitely considering volunteering for Iko Poran again whenever I have the chance.

I worked on the Child Development program while I was with Iko Poran. The program leader was very creative and open to any ideas I brought. The program did not provide many resources or materials, however I was able to bring whatever I needed to structure activities for the class. Working with the children was definitely challenging and you need to have motivation but it was 100% worth it. The biggest challenge for me was the language barrier, but luckily I was working alongside another girl who could translate for me and in addition I was taking the Portuguese classes offered through Iko Poran (which were amazing).

As for the program itself, I loved that there was always someone there I could contact if I needed anything, but I also had space and I was allowed to be as independent as I wanted. I met lots of amazing and inspiring people through Iko Poran and hopefully I will have a chance to come back and do it again sometime in the future.